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Ten years ago , Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait laced up their sneakers and left Vancouver to run a marathon. The next day they ran another, and then another – and about a year later they had completed 369. Over the Rockies, through the Maritimes, across Louisiana’s bayous and stretches of the Arizona...

Margaret H. Mason | Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright I meet frequently with individuals and families who are bringing thoughtful consideration to their philanthropy and are contemplating whether a private family foundation would be the most appropriate vehicle to achieve their objectives. Invariably...

Preparing for the Big One Lourette Swanepoel works as an urban planner , and so she was very aware that her neighbourhood was lacking one key plan: earthquake preparedness. “I didn’t have my act together,” she says. “Everyone says they should but nobody does.” So in the summer of 2015, with a $500...

Empowering older women In 2012, Krista James first met with a group of two dozen elderly Chinese women from Richmond, most of them immigrants and grandmothers, to ask them what sort of change they wanted to see in their community and in their lives. James, who is the Vancouver-based national...

Ava, a 22-year-old UBC law student, motors along Highway 16 just west of Prince George in the pouring rain. As the car head- lights illuminate the outline of an Aboriginal girl hitchhiking by the side of the road, Ava wavers. Should she stop and pick her up? But the moment is gone, and she...

“Deep inside, I’ve always had a close connection to giving back to the community,” says Derek Wills. His compassion for others was inspired by his parents who spent many hours volunteering with service clubs while he was growing up. “My parents involved me in volunteering at a very early age by...

One day soon after the November 2015 terrorist attack in Paris, Shazia Suleman was walking home from a neighbourhood park with her two young children when a man started yelling at her. “Go back to your country! Go back to your country!” “He’s right behind us and yelling,” she says, recalling how...

For almost 75 years , Vancouver Foundation has depended on the prudent management of its endowment—$1.1 billion as of 2016—to help fund its work across the province. And few know the challenges of managing the funds—the unpredictability, uncertainty and lack of guarantees—better than board member...

Every Monday , Michael Leland cycles to the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, towing a bike trailer. The trailer sports his own modifications: its load capacity has been expanded thanks to a freezer rack. Sometimes accompanied by a fellow member of the Binners’ Project, he pulls bottles and cans from a...

Community can start with carrots —along with rosemary, squash, rhubarb and pumpkins. That’s been the experience of Carlson Hui, Matt Cooke and other residents at a 155-unit condo complex called James. Located in Olympic Village, the 14-storey high-rise has managed to transform the pervasive sense...

In January 2016, Kevin Wong was a 23-year-old criminology student who, inspired by cop movies, wanted to become a police officer. Ian Desrosier was a 41-year-old inmate at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC), nearing the end of his two-year sentence for breaking and entering. Both were nervous as...

Victoria’s Red Barn Market, on the corner of Vanalman and Glanford Avenues, is a bustling place. Customers come and go, day in, day out, some grabbing a smoked-meat sandwich for lunch, others picking up a week’s worth of meat and fresh produce. Outside, where the fruit and veggies are neatly...

1. CONSIDER YOUR CHARITABLE INTERESTS What are you passionate about? Arts and culture? Helping children? Medical research? When you establish a Donor Advised Fund at Vancouver Foundation, you will have the flexibility to support the charities and causes you care about most. 2. ESTABLISH YOUR FUND...

When a research team from InWithForward moved into a social housing complex in Burnaby for three months last year, their research revealed that many people with cognitive disabilities were feeling bored, stuck and curious about what else is out there. “We think if Kudoz is going to scale, it can’t...

We depend on bees for a lot more than honey. In fact, bees pollinate the plants that supply up to one-third of the food we eat, so it’s important to both global food security and our local economy to protect their habitat. And yet, even the very act of beekeeping can be to our own benefit – a fact...

It’s not every day a former prime minister shows up unannounced, but for Jason McLean, it’s just another day at the office. When former prime minister Jean Chrétien recently arrived at the entrepreneur’s Gastown office, no doubt it raised a few eyebrows, but McLean, who once worked for the prime...

As steam unspools from fresh cups of coffee on a polished wood countertop, dozens of young minds fumble in the background to find seats for both their ideas and their posteriors. The air is electric, and the warm glow of string lights reflecting off vintage brick walls is homey and inviting. “Every...

This is a love story. One with ups and downs and twists and turns that go from joy to tragedy and then back again. A man and woman meet, fall in love, marry, have kids. Then she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. She dies a year later at the age of 32, leaving behind her husband and two young...

Carolyn Finlay remembers her son Eric’s first cello lesson vividly. His teacher, Catherine Carmack, offered to show the five-year-old a new way to slice an apple. She bisected the fruit sideways through its equator, and held up one white-fleshed half with a five-seeded star clearly visible at its...

Michael Gordon wears many hats. He’s an avid skateboarder, a professor and an amateur documentary filmmaker. He’s also a City of Vancouver planner, and has devoted his career to shaping the city and its evolution into one of the country’s most vibrant and exciting urban centres. Though Gordon was...

Shane Koyczan is no stranger to deeply personal material. The poetry of this Vancouver-based spoken word artist is rich in social commentary, and often delves with an unflinching eye into intimate and sometimes disturbing subject matter. However, when Vancouver Opera came calling two years ago to...

If you’ve got the time, the patience, and the skills, do-it-yourself can be a great way to go -- for home renos, and for charitable giving. Bill Langlois and Mike Melnyk are both retired B.C. administrators/fundraisers. They’ve worked at a senior level for major charities in BC, and together have...

Aboriginal students at four north Okanagan elementary schools are discovering the joy of reading, thanks to a successful after-school reading program called Coyote Café. Twice a week for 25 weeks, participants get a healthy snack and one-to-one reading support, plus take part in group reading,...

"I live to give, do good, thank God, and play golf" “Retired.” It’s definitely not a word you would use to describe Jack Gin – although it’s been more than five years since he drew a paycheque or drove to work. “I guess I’m a really busy retiree,” he says with a wide grin. In fact, Gin’s day is...

The Turtle Valley Donkey Refuge Society provides a safe home for rescued, abused and unwanted donkeys in British Columbia. Located near Salmon Arm in BC's interior, the facility is home to 24 donkeys. One of these donkeys is “Sassy” (both by name and temperament). A 12-year-old Mammoth Donkey,...